Zen
by gophish
Summary: Sydney goes to Japan and kicks it up!


Title: "Zen" 1/1  
  
Author: gophish  
  
E-mail: elreeder@home.com  
  
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters and if I did, they'd have different horoscope signs.  
  
Distribution: If you would like to archive, please e-mail me.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Classification: Action  
  
Feedback: Feel free to tell me what you think.  
  
Summary: Sydney goes on a mission to Japan and kicks a little ass.  
  
LOS ANGELES  
  
She opened the door, stepped in, and immediately felt discomfort in the air. The usual were there - Sloane, Marshall, Dixon, Dad. Something about it was odd, but she couldn't tell what it was. She pulled out her chair, sat down and noticed that they were all staring at her as if she were a little school girl that had come in from recess a few minutes too late.  
  
"Sorry," she said, almost feeling guilty. But for what? Her discomfort was soon overshadowed by the screen Sloan brought up.  
  
"Pesce del Giappone," Sloane said as the picture flashed before them all.  
  
"It's beautiful," Sydney said under her breath. By far one of the more exquisite pieces of jade she had seen. She had always had a fondness for the stone, the mystery that it provoked, the wonder. Ever since she was a little girl something had always fascinated her about it, however she didn't own a single piece.  
  
Sloane continued, "The Fish of Japan. Created around the 14th Century, during the flowering of classical Japanese culture, it was once believe to be able to cure modern ailments. Of course this may be pure superstition, but the piece does hold some beneficial use to us." A new picture flashed before them, one that at first appeared to be a large glass sphere with orange and green Japanese writing etched on the edges, but upon further inspection, was clearly made to safely house the Fish. "This is the globe that was recovered during a mission last year in Kyoto. We had all seen pictures and heard the stories of the Fish and its supposed divine power, but were skeptical of its existence until now."  
  
He took a seat in his chair at the head of the table like some powerful dictator of a new regime and continued. "Sd-6 has learned that a man by the name of Jasper Hiponoke, an international art trader, is opening a museum in his father's hometown, Osaka, just 100 miles or so south of Kyoto, and claims to have the Fish as the main exhibit. Sydney, Dixon; you're mission is to go to Osaka at the opening of the museum, confiscate the Fish, and bring it back to us for further inspection."  
  
"If the power of the Fish is only mythical superstition, then why do we want it in our possession?" Sydney asked as she looked up from her screen at Sloane.  
  
Sloane rose out of his chair. "We have reason to believe that this Fish is a key that will," he pointed to the picture of the sphere, "when placed inside the sphere, unlock the healing ingredients to an elixir developed by Milo Rambaldi. The myth may not be just a myth after all."  
  
Her father glanced over at her and began to speak, lending some sort of strange credibility to it all. "Sources close to Sd-6 in Kyoto say that locals speak of an ancient elixir that could cure the sick and give eyes to the blind. We need that Fish to know for sure."  
  
"Marshall," Sloane said as he gave the floor over and took his seat for the second time.  
  
  
  
"Right. My turn." Marshall stood up and opened a tiny red box revealing what appeared to be two loosely placed gold pendants. He continued, "These look like your ordinary high-class pins-well, they are high-class, high class*ified*, hehe." He looked around the room; nothing but empty stares. "Right. Well, these, my friends, are not your ordinary pendants. You see," he held one up as he carried on, "This is the symbol for Capricorn - the Sea-Goat. You'll wear this one Sydney. Not that I think you are a Capricorn, I don't know what your astrological signature is, but the sign of Capricorn just so happens to be, none other, than yours truly. Dixon, you'll wear this one. The symbol for Leo - the Lion. Same goes for you, I didn't really know your sign, but a lion was a lot easier to construct than a Centaur, if you know what I mean!"  
  
"I actually *am* a Leo," Dixon replied, knowing that he had only prolonged him by doing so.  
  
"See!" Marshall excitedly replied. "I didn't know that! You know, research suggests that the human brain actually has the capability of a sixth sense, and since these are astrological symbols, and since they are kind of shrouded in allure and mystery....WOW!" He rolled his eyes and waved his hands about in the air whistling the theme music to "The Twilight Zone". He suddenly caught a glimpse of Sloane looking at him precociously and quickly brought himself back on track. "So, Sydney, your pin doubles as an electro-static interference device, as well as a communicator and Dixon, yours as the control. While at the museum, Sydney, you'll place your pin on the main sprinkler system interface conveniently located on the main hall; Dixon, you will activate it. This is pure red herring. While everyone is scattering about, trying to stay dry with the sprinklers going off, Sydney will take this," he held up a black tube of eye mascara, "which looks like your run-of-the-mill Max Factor, but it's really a handy-dandy glass-cutter. You'll have no trouble cutting enough space in the case where the Fish is kept to pull it out while everyone is in a panic! Ta-da!"  
  
One by one, as everyone began to leave the conference room, Sydney felt a tug at her shoulder. Expecting it to be her father, she turned around in anticipation. It was Sloane.  
  
"Sydney," he said. "I know you'll do well. "  
  
  
  
Vaughn had the same blank expression on his face that everyone in the briefing room did, however, somehow, his was more compassionate, almost tender.  
  
"What's with the looks today?" she asked.  
  
"Looks?" He didn't understand.  
  
"During the briefing, everyone had this look about them, and now, here with you, it's like you've got the same thing going through your head. So what's up?" She sat back and propped her legs up on the padded plastic chair of the blood-mobile expecting a lengthy response.  
  
"This is an important mission, Sydney" Vaughn's tone was just a sincere as his expression. "Osaka is a dangerous city. Numerous events involving the Fish of Rambaldi's elixir have claimed lives. In 1926, an American man attempted to steal it from its then owners only to get hit by an Japanese army medical unit van while escaping from the building. In 1955, another American man and his wife were caught by the Japanese embassy and before they were questioned about their involvement with the Fish, were found lying dead of natural causes with Fish in-hand. More recently, in 1998, the owner before Hiponoke, a Chinese woman by the name of Yuan Li Chen was found hanging by her neck from the balcony of the hotel she was staying in near Beijing during the early hours before dawn - Fish in-hand." Vaughn gave a smirk has if he had just told a campfire story to a troupe of young boys.  
  
"OK," Sydney didn't even know where to begin. "Let's say all of this were true...Then why would Sd-6 tell me this morning that they were unsure of it's very existence until only recently?"  
  
Vaughn leaned back and locked both of his hands behind the back of his head, silent. Sydney realized that there was no need for an answer. Sd-6 wanted the Fish and she had to go to Osaka; there wasn't much more for her to be told.  
  
"Alright," she said. "What's my counter-mission then?"  
  
Vaughn handed her a pair of Jade earrings. Unlike the Fish, which was solid green, these were more of an amber color, and not nearly as spectacular. "Do what Sd-6 wants with the Fish, however use these to photograph Hiponoke. The CIA is more interested in him than some mystical Fish; we'll let Sloane take care of uncovering the riddles of the elixir, we can handle that later. Hiponoke, on the other hand, is a known opium drug lord that can be linked to over one-third of the this country's west- coast heroine traffic. Find out who he's with, what he's doing, and where he goes."  
  
Sydney nodded and placed the requisite bandage on the soft part of her inner-elbow. It made her chuckle. Usually, it's a smiley face, a butterfly, or some other obnoxiously cute do-dad , however this time it was a picture of Scully, from the television show the X-files, looking aimlessly into space. "Is that show still on TV? I'll see you when I get back..." She opened the door and stepped outside in the warm winter sunshine. She let out a deep sigh and began to walk away...  
  
  
  
OSAKA  
  
The museum was situated atop a hillside. Its angles and curves were typical of Japanese architecture, but it's structure and it's series of oversized glass windows gave it somewhat of a contemporary flair. Sydney and Dixon walked through the massive front doors and immediately split up. Sydney started down the main hall, Dixon - off to the right.  
  
Her jet-black braided pony tail came two inches from her waist and swayed side to side as she made her way amongst all that was going on. It was wrapped tight in a single knot, held by a pair of chopsticks on top, and left to hang. She was wearing a white silk dress, Asian-style, that clung to her body and held in place with help from her Sea-Goat pin Marshall had given her.  
  
"Dixon, do you copy?" She said as she tilted her mouth toward it.  
  
"I'm right here Syd." He replied. "Have you made it to the main wing yet?"  
  
"I'm there, but no sprinkler interface ." She scoured the area. There was the Fish, cased in glass near the center of the room under a large glass lighting fixture that was no doubt its own piece of art. It looked practically undisturbed, resting on a small blue silk pillow, and apparently no security, save for the two guards placed on either side of the room. There were people everywhere, huddled together talking, looking at art, smoking. She had her eyes out for Hiponoke. She looked up toward the ceiling, checking the sprinklers. Perfect, there were hundreds of them.  
  
"Bingo." She found the interface. "Right side. Back corner." Now Hiponoke.  
  
She started walking through the sea of people. She picked up a glass of champagne on her way, stopping ever so often to look over a piece or scout out a group of pretentious dealers. She made her way towards a large sculpture of a man in traditional Japanese attire. He looked to be made of copper and was gazing upwards, perhaps in mid-thought. The small yellow tag placed on the wall behind the figure read: "Remembered Life" in Japanese.  
  
"My father." A man replied, startling Sydney. She turned around sharply. "Excuse me. I didn't mean to startle you. He was my father. Osaka was his hometown and I made a promise to him that my first museum would be built here in honor of him. He passed away three months ago." It was Hiponoke. He was staring right into her eyes, squinting and slightly seductive. "You like it?"  
  
She fumbled over her words, "Umm, yes. Beautiful." She reached up to the earrings Vaughn had given her, slightly touching them and getting a clear shot of Hiponoke's face. "Exquisite actually."  
  
"My name is Jasper Hiponoke, and to whom do I owe the pleaure?" His words lacked the refinement they intended, but were easy to play off nonetheless.  
  
"Someone who admires your taste....in....art." She paused, luring him in to believing she was interested.  
  
He took Sydney's hand in his and looked up into her eyes. "Why don't you let me give you a tour? I'm sure you would find the rest equally as tasteful?" She pulled her hand away gently, moving back slightly.  
  
"I'm sorry. I told my husband I would wait for him here." It was a nice time to cut away from the situation. She needed to spy, not converse.  
  
"My apologies. Maybe we shall meet again, yes?" He began to back away and slightly bow. Sydney reached up again, snapping another photo.  
  
"Definitely." She slightly bowed her head and walked away.  
  
"Syd. You alright?" Dixon asked.  
  
"Yeah, Dixon. I'm alright." She turned around to see Hiponoke gather around a crowd of people. She took several more photos as they worked their way out of her range.  
  
"OK, Dixon." She moved toward the interface. "I'm at the interface." She took the pin off her dress and placed it firmly into the metallic keypad, leaving the main piece in order to continue communicating with Dixon. "Done." She moved away and walked quickly over to the glass case, keeping her eyes on both the guards. She fumbled through her small black purse for the glass cutters, keeping her eyes fixed on her surroundings. Standing next to the case, she pulled out the cutters and placed them up to the glass. "Ready."  
  
"OK," Dixon replied. Sydney's eyes caught someone coming towards her from a distance as she started cutting into the case. She glanced over to see the familiar face of Anna Espinosa coming on full-force. "Dixon. Anna's here...Dixon?!" Suddenly the alarms activated and the hundreds of tiny little water sprinklers on the ceiling turned on, spraying down, causing the guests to panic and run for shelter. "Dixon!" He wasn't responding and Anna was getting closer. Water pouring down her face and into her eyes, she continued to cut, not taking an eye off her nemesis, who was wearing a clad red dress and had her hair done up in much the same way as her own.  
  
"Sydney! Get out of there!" Dixon came back on just as her hand reached into the case and grabbed the Fish. She pulled it out and went to put in her purse, but it was too late. Anna came up from beside her, smashing into the side of her face with her fist. They fell to the ground as Anna held onto Sydney's forearm. The Fish came out of grasp and slid across the slippery wet marble floor. The guests that were still left in the room didn't notice anything as the two battled it out on the floor, and more importantly, no one noticed the loose Fish writhing underneath their feet.  
  
Sydney's leg came up, knocking Anna off with her knee. Sydney tried to push herself up but before she could get her hands firmly placed on either side of her for support, Anna was already up and started for the Fish. Sydney reach over and grabbed Anna's left ankle as she moved away, causing her to slip. Sydney pushed off the momentum of Anna's fall, running toward her goal. She made it, reached down, picked up the Fish, and shoved it into her purse. She wiped away the water from her face, threw off her stiletto heels and ran toward the hall. Anna was directly behind her.  
  
"Dixon!" she yelled.  
  
"Sydney, I'm here. Where are you?"  
  
"Dixon. I've got it. Get the van and meet me around back on the east- side." She moved quickly through the crowd of rushing people trying to loose Anna in the commotion. Her head went back - Anna had grabbed her pony-tail, throwing her to the ground. She snatched the purse. Sydney did a swift side-kick from the ground, knocking Anna down as well. The two of them fought over the purse, tugging back and forth as the herd of people ran past them. Anna gave Sydney one last punch with the back of her tightened fist, got up and ran towards the exit. Sydney grabbed a ceramic figure that had been knocked from it's display in the chaos. She ran toward Anna and threw it, aiming for the base of her head as she neared the doorway. She fell to the ground and Sydney once again had the purse in her possession.  
  
There were no stairs to the main hall on this side, as it was intended for restoration of ancient pieces. She had lost Anna. She paused to look around and seeing it was a dead end, she turned to try another way. When she did, Anna was there standing with a gun pointed directly at her.  
  
"Give me the Fish." She said with a smirk.  
  
Sydney tried to control her breathing as water poured off her face.  
  
"Give me the Fish!" She said again, this time without the smirk. Sydney looked around. "No way out," she thought. She glanced at the red velvet curtains hanging from the large windows. They were adorned with gold roping which wrapped around top, holding them to the edges of the panes. Quickly, she jumped through the window, glass shattering and falling to the ground beneath her. She reached out as she leapt, grabbing hold of the rope and slowly slid down the side of the building. A quick glance up proved to show Anna running to the window and looking back down as Sydney got into the black van Dixon had waiting for her. Inside the van she continued to breathe heavily, however she was no longer conscious of the water that dripped down her face.  
  
  
  
  
  
LOS ANGELES  
  
Sydney pushed play on the Cd player and let "Delirium" pour from the speakers. She sat back on her sofa and crossed her legs, cupping her glass of Pinot Noir in both hands. Sd-6 got the Fish. The CIA got their photos. She got to go home. She closed her eyes; she needed to think. Not think about anything in particular; just think. So much had changed in the past several months. Everything around her; the way she looked at the world, and at other people. The people around her even. The person that had given her the very Cd she was listening to. So many things...  
  
-Knock-Knock-Knock-  
  
She looked out the small window and saw Will standing outside waving her attention while holding something tightly against his torso. She opened the door, letting him in with a friendly, "Hey."  
  
"Hey," he responded. "I got you this. Welcome home." He handed her a clear vase filled with water and round blue pebbles on the bottom, a day lily with the roots placed on top, and a blue-red betta fish swimming around inside. "Thought you could use some company, plus it's supposed to be good for your Zen and all that."  
  
Sydney took the fish, placed it on the counter and thought how appropriate she should receive a fish after Japan. She walked Will over to the couch with her arms tucked under his. Sitting down, she looked over and said, "I'm glad you're here." He only replied, "I'm glad, too."  
  
  
  
  
  
THE END 


End file.
